first edition Full Calf
1814 · London
by [Alexander, William]
London: John Murray, Albemarle Street; Printed By W. W. Bulmer and Co., 1814. First. Full Calf. Very Good. 8vo. 23.5 by 16.5 cm. v, [3] pp., followed by 60 hand-colored costume plates, each accompanied by English description on separate leaf. Plates include Sultana or Odalisk, ladle-bearer, musician, first dragoman, the mufti, a Jew, a dervise, a Tartar, and on and on. They are both entertaining, both to gaze at and to read about, and they bring alive the past of a radically different world from the present in a way that no dry historical tome or even a diverting historical novel can do alone. Condition: rebacked sympathetically. Original blindstamped calf boards preserved, with edges rubbed. Light scattered soiling of the pages, but mostly clean, with light age toning.
(Inventory #: 006538)